Supervillain Lessons #3: What’s wrong with Evil?

There’s never been a bad guy who had a serious problem with being called, evil, or insane, or mad.  Mostly because people who have a big enough idea really couldn’t care less what you call them - especially if they have the stones to explain their vision of the endgame, and go make that thing happen.

Words that better describe what is commonly referred to as evil: misunderstood, game-changing, disruptive, unexpected, unstoppable, scary.

Google’s motto ‘Don’t Be Evil’ is infuriating for this reason.  Don’t be evil equates to ‘Don’t Get Called Evil’ which essentially means ‘Don’t Scare Anyone’.

If you aren’t scaring anyone, what are you doing right?

Supervillain Lessons #2: Give in to the urge to explain.

One of the best scenes in Pixar’s The Incredibles involves two superheroes discussing the absurdity of the Supervillain monologue, and how it inevitably ends up giving the hero enough time to escape.

It might be a flaw, but Supervillains understand the importance of exposition.

Just because you’re winning, doesn’t mean explaining yourself is a luxury.  Taking the time to clearly explain what you’re doing, why you’re winning, and what you’re going to do after is almost always a good idea.  You can use that explanation to win allies, calm fears, and warn people about complex or uncomfortable changes down the road.

Acting in secrecy is great, but once you’ve made an announcement, there is often great value in letting people know that you have a roadmap, that you’ve thought this through, and that there’s an endgame.

That said, when you decide to take some exposition time, make sure you wait until you’re past the point when someone understanding your plans would make them capable of derailing them.

Supervillain Lessons #1: Fair Fights are for Idiots.

I realized on the weekend that you can learn a lot from supervillains.  And why not?  So many of them are semi-legitimate businessmen, brilliant egomaniacs, dictators who demand perfection, and other things that describe Steve Jobs.

So, I’m starting a new series of posts, Supervillain Lessons, with this point: Fair Fights are for Idiots.

By this I mean, no reasonably intelligent person would ever bet the farm on their ability to win a fair fight.  You don’t enter an established market hoping that your more-or-less-the-same product will win based on your hard work, or your branding, or your charm alone.

When you launch a new idea, or enter an established market, you better have a secret weapon that makes everyone else irrelevant to the point of mockery.  And you better hope that it works quickly.

Because fair fights favour the strongest, richest, most established person.  Any disruptive company wasn’t in favour of a fair fight.

All I’m saying is, if you’re going up against Superman, have kryptonite, or stay at home.

The best part about not fighting fair?  If you brag about your advantage, the weaknesses of your opponent are made public.  If you don’t, you can take them down, unsuspecting.

Supervillain rule #1: Fair Fights are for Idiots.